Principal's message - 11 September 2026

Dear Families,

We have had another busy and productive week at St Mary’s, with our teachers engaging in Big Picture Planning. This provides our staff with an important opportunity to reflect on the learning that has taken place throughout Term 3 and look ahead to Term 4. Our teachers have been planning across all curriculum areas to ensure we finish the year strongly and provide our students with a wonderful final term of learning and growth.

Our staff and students also came together to recognise R U OK? Day, with everyone encouraged to wear a splash of yellow. Our Student Wellbeing Leaders, supported by Mrs West, did a fantastic job promoting the importance of positive conversations and encouraging our community to check in with and support one another. It was wonderful to see our students embracing the opportunity to spread kindness and strengthen connections across our school.

More than 20 St Mary’s students represented our school at Divisional Athletics this week. We were thrilled with the many outstanding results, with a special congratulations to Austin in Year 4, who won the High Jump and will now represent St Mary’s at the Regional Finals in Term 4. Mr Hertz was extremely proud of all our athletes and their efforts on the day. Perhaps even more impressive, however, was the outstanding behaviour demonstrated by our representative students. They were wonderful ambassadors for St Mary’s and should be very proud of the way they represented our school.

A reminder to all families to participate in the MACSSIS (Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools Improvement Survey). A link to the survey has been emailed to families. We take this feedback very seriously, as it provides valuable information that helps us identify our strengths and areas for growth and informs our planning and priorities for the next 12 months. We greatly appreciate your time and support in completing the survey.

As we approach the final week of Term 3, we are looking forward to a number of exciting activities. We will begin the week with our School Assembly, led by 1/2K, where we look forward to sharing our school news, learning and achievements with our community.

We will finish the week with our Footy Fun Day, led by our School and House Captains. The students have been working hard to prepare a memorable day of fun, physical activity and footy-themed celebrations for all St Mary’s students. We are looking forward to seeing our school community come together to finish the term on a high.

Finally, we wish Sonia a relaxing and well deserved break as she begins her Long Service Leave. We look forward to welcoming Sonia back onsite in Week 2 of the new term.

John Hein
Deputy Principal